


Water Burger

by armint



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, F/M, Fast Food, Fluff, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:00:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27778036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armint/pseuds/armint
Summary: Armin hasn’t come out. It’s been a secret he’s kept for himself, but when he goes to college and frequents a Water Burger with his best friends, things become complicated. The local fry boy is just his type, in body and, as Armin's finding, personality. And then comes the difficulty of dating the boy that your best friend hates.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein, Sasha Blouse/Nicolo
Comments: 17
Kudos: 63





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I just feel I need to start uploading my shit. Also I fucking love writing this fic. Hope yall enjoy :3
> 
> Also Water Burger is based off a real place, I know I uploaded this including the actual place but I'm changing it LOL

“Just give me the burgers, Jean!”

Armin picks up his fries just before Eren’s fist hits the table, saving them from flying. It always started like this.

“Huh? Don’t say my name, scramp!”

The plastic tray clattered onto the table, wrapped burgers flipping, one skipping onto the table. Armin’s eyes went from the burger to Jean’s clenched fist.  _ Is his manager still smoking? _

“Guys, please…”

Eren shuffles out of the booth, an attempt at haste awkward and slow, afterwards taking the white and orange striped table number in his hand. He raised it above his head.

“Stop being an ass or I’ll shove this up yours!”

“You piece of –“

“Jean!” Armin’s voice came out like a yelp, the latter’s name coming out instinctively as bells rattled from the back of the burger joint. Jean swiped the table number from Eren, scowling at him before heading back to the cash register, greeting his manager as if nothing had happened. Eren plopped back in the booth, crossing his arms.

“Why do you always do that, Armin? He deserves to get fired…” He grumbled, his bottom lip pouting and pointed at Armin. The blonde shrugged in response to his expression, placing his fries back on the table. Eren pouted for a moment more before sighing, exasperated, and beginning to go to town on a burger.

It was always like this.

Since coming to university, the very first day, there was something between Eren and Jean. 

And there was something Armin felt for him, too.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii please enjoy :)  
> Not a long note because I'm tired af hahahahaa

“I’m sorry about Eren.”

Jean’s wiping down a booth, a knee resting on one of the benches so he can reach just near the window, and he doesn’t acknowledge Armin by more than a grunt. Armin hesitates, admiring how strands of Jean’s hair stick out from the back of his work cap, before jumping from a small beep of a car horn from outside. Eren. Jean groans, covering his own shock with irritation.

“Your friend is such a nuisance.” Armin smiles, awkward and not knowing how to respond. It drops when Jean looks up at him. “Stop -don’t say sorry again.”

“Right…” Armin nods, stepping back.  _ Do I really say sorry that much?  _ “I should go, though, so he doesn’t honk again.”

Jean stares at him, deadpan. “Is that the reason why?”

Armin doesn’t know what to say, staring back at Jean as his cheeks grow hot. Jean was difficult, and although he had minor kind moments he was overall a rubber band ball that constantly had the bands pulled back and snapped. Whether it be Eren, or the array of customers that crossed the fast food joint’s threshold, there was always somebody or something that seemed to be under the boys skin. Armin tried to act nice enough, but of course there were days when Jean would even shoot him a glare. It hurt, but honestly, the brightside was that Jean was kind of sexy angry. He had mean eyes and it fit.

Armin found himself thinking of that when another honk came from outside. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing through the glass that Eren was on his phone in the front seat of his car, parked just by the door.

“You should go, right?” When Armin turns back around the taller boy is standing up, a good head above him, and wiping his hands on a rag. For whatever reason his eyes have softened significantly.

“Yeah, um, sor -'' Armin stops himself, smiling. Jean rolls his eyes, the smallest of smiles toying on his lips, and Armin could happily die right there.

“Get out of here, Arlert.”

Armin had met Jean the day he moved for college. It was Eren that had brought them together, ironically. While Armin had spent their university’s preview day that past fall learning about the geology program, Eren had attended a short preview of the school's soccer team and then went to eat with his prospective teammates at the apparently ‘bomb’ Water Burger.

In August the next year Armin and Mikasa (their childhood friend and roommate) had barely brought up their things to their new apartment before Eren insisted on crossing the street and getting a bite to eat. It was early August and hot, and Armin was already sweaty from the short walk when they stepped inside. There was no respite from the heat inside, though, with what Armin assumed was a broken air conditioner and the heat from the grills just behind the counter puffing hot air into the dining area.

Standing at the counter was Jean, tall and holding his uniform’s black cap in one hand and pushing back his two-toned hair with the other. He looked sweaty and grungy, his skin glistening in the dimly-lit fast food joint, highlighting the lean muscles of his arms and the high cheekbones of his long face. His bright orange polo which Armin assumed was supposed to be worn tucked in was only loosely pressed into the front of his pants. Armin was on autopilot following his friends farther inside, taken aback by the man before him.

“Welcome,” Jean had said, practically yawning the word out. His eyes flicked from Eren to Mikasa, and when Armin felt the imminent glance at him he looked away, staring pointedly at the drinks on the menu. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jean put his cap on and turn back to his friends.

“What would you like?” His voice was smooth, and Armin thought of him saying it again in his head, each word a sugar cube to his sweet tooth. He hadn’t felt this attracted to anyone since highschool. A burly football player named Reiner had picked him up and placed him over his shoulder as a joke, sending all of the blood from his head to his crotch. Armin briefly wondered if this guy in front of him could do that, haul him over his shoulder like it was nothing, while his eyes were left roaming the curves of the muscles on the other’s arm.

Yeah, he could probably do that.

Eren wrapped an arm around Armin;s neck, pulling him close to point up at the menu. "See, I got the number seven last time -"

In the past two years of high school Eren has grown. He was tall, easily over six feet and Armin was practically pressed under his armpit as Eren pointed and described the food items. When he'd turn to Armin his breath was hot on his ears, and when Armin took a chance to glance at the cashier he found he was staring back at him. Armin started, jolting in Eren's arms, but unable to look away from the eye contact. There was a slight peevedness to his face, his thin eyes squinted and his jaw set tight. Armin looked back at the menu, confused and embarrassed, and wished Eren would be done explaining soon so they could order. It was Mikasa who pulled Eren out of it though.

"Eren, we don't want to form a line." Eren paused, straightening up. He nodded at her.

"Right…" He agreed, and Armin looked behind them, the entrance empty and as barren as the parking lot outside. Armin wanted to thank Mikasa, but he would have to do that later as they ordered. It was when Mikasa was ordering that he got a chance to look at the name tag: Jean.

At the end of their table was their order number, a tiny plastic tent with white and orange stripes. Jean was apparently going to bring them their food, and Armin waited quietly while watching his friends converse, Mikasa listening wholeheartedly to Eren's complaints of his semester's class schedule and offering him tiny replies in return. Armin kept thinking about Jean, though. He looked to be about their age, was he also a student at the university? And if so, what was he studying? The school was known for their music program, and with Jean’s cool demeanor Armin could see him on stage, playing the drums or maybe a violin. 

Armin rested his head in his hand, leaning on it and looking out the window. He had looked at him weird, though, when Eren had his arm around him. Maybe he was homophobic? It was common in high school for people to mistake them as a couple. Eren was handsy and protective, and Armin’s gaze flicked up at him with a small growing curiosity -had Eren wrapped his arm around him earlier on purpose?

There’s a sudden clunk to his left, and Armin turns to see Jean had dropped their tray at the end of their table. He looks down at Armin.

“Here’s your food.” Armin smiles at him uncomfortably, pulling the tray into the middle of the table.

“Thank you -”

“Can we have some napkins as well?” Eren asks and Jean’s gaze instantly shifts to him. He snarls, picking up the number at the end of their table. 

“This isn’t a restaurant. Napkins are over by the counter. Along with the drinks, and anything else you need.”

Eren looks at him, his languid expression from before gone. Anger has set in his face with his jaw tense, his eyes pointed and burning even with their green color, and Armin sighs at the sight. “...what’s with that attitude?”

“What’s with that privilege?” Jean snapped back, crossing his arms. Armin gulped, feeling the tension rising. It was always like this with Eren, one wrong comment and he’d -

“What’s with your dumb fucking horse face?”

“I don’t have a fucking horse face you man-bun wearing dickwad!” Jean spat out his retort, and Armin paused, looking between the two and then at Mikasa. They stared at each other dumbly, shocked. Usually no one fought back with Eren. Most people would respond with laughter or fear, and on the rare occasion a fight would occur, usually over issues as small as this one. Armin bit his lip, looking over at Eren and wondering if there was some way to stop his rising anger.

“Shitting on my hair? Really? Can’t find anything better to point out?” His eyes shifted back to Jean, who was rolling his tongue around in his mouth, pressing against the side of his cheek, and Armin could hear the debate in his hand. But all it really boiled down to is if his job was worth fighting Eren.

“You want your ass kicked?” Jean’s words were tight, quiet with tension evident in every enunciation. There was a bell ring from the back and Armin turned, watching as a tiny, black-haired man stepped behind the counter. He had slim eyes that stared at them, taking in the situation, and Armin guessed right then that that was Jean’s boss. Without a second thought he turned, reaching out to grab Jean’s forearm -tight and muscular under his palm- and smiled up at him.

“Your boss is watching.” He whispered, fighting the raising of his heartbeat, not used to touching the other, or even the  _ idea _ of touching the other. Jean stared at him, unimpressed. Armin gave a light squeeze. “Please.”

“Armin…” Eren mumbled, and Armin turned to him. Eren looked like a mix between confused and annoyed, and Armin breathed out a sigh of relief, knowing that he was quelled for the moment. Armin felt Jean’s muscles untense under his hand.

“Enjoy your food.” He said bitterly, shaking off Armin’s hand and walking away.

“What a jackass, fucking horse face as well.” Eren mumbled, pulling his burger from the tray. Armin didn’t agree, and he bit his bottom lip to keep back a reply, because although he had known he was gay since he was kid he hadn’t come out to anyone. And he wasn’t about to reveal that over a hot-headed boy who worked at a burger joint.

“Hey,” Eren greeted, Armin’s car door snapping shut behind him. He buckled up as Eren stuffed his phone in his pocket and started to drive. “I know you’re nice, Armin, but that guy is a real dick.” He started, beginning to pull out from the parking lot. “Connie’s friends with him, you know. And all of his stories about him are just dickish.”

“Connie’s still friends with him, though.” Armin points out, turning the cold air up high. Connie was on Eren’s soccer team, and for the past three years the pair had grown close, to the point where the right seat of the couch was his and if anyone besides Mikasa dared to sit there they’d be wrestled to the ground. Armin had experienced that once and it was enough to teach him to take his spot in the middle or on the floor. Having a male body pressed against his own was just a quick train to boner-ville, and definitely something Armin wanted to avoid.

Eren doesn’t respond to his comment, and they drive the minute back to their apartment in silence. It was a pointless drive, really, when they could have walked. But sometimes the heat was too much. They had come from up north and were still unaccustomed to 50 degree winters and 110 degree summers. No matter how many times they made the walk to the Water Burger and they had their walk back, Armin felt uncomfortable and hot and sweaty.

Once parked, Armin shuffled quickly out of the car and up the stairs to the second and highest floor of the low-cost apartment, unlocking their door and holding it open for Eren. He followed in after and was greeted immediately by cold air, and he sighed while shutting the door. 

Right inside was the living room, and besides that a small dining room and a thin kitchen that jutted off to the left of it. Between the living and dining room there was a door to Eren’s room, and to the left past the living room there was a hallway that led to Mikasa and Armin’s room and the apartment's tiny bathroom. The lighting was dim and the carpet obviously old, tight to the ground and a flat beige, but they vacuumed it regularly and had littered lamps all over that made the space cozy. The floor lamp next to the sofa was lit and showing orange on the wall, but any sign of Mikasa wasn’t there. Armin shrugged off his sneakers and noticed her keys weren’t hanging from the key rack on the wall.

“She left the lights on again.” He notes, sighing and lining up Eren’s recently discarded boots with his sneakers.

“She probably just stepped out for a moment.” Eren responded, yawning and flopping onto the couch. “I’m kind of relieved.”

“Mmm,” Armin agrees, but not for the same reason as Eren. He smiles to himself as he passes the sofa and heads to his room. “She would have given you shit about Jean as well.”

“Ha-ha.” Eren responds flatly, unamused. Armin heads into his room and shuts the door, opting to open his blinds rather than turn on any lights. His room was small and there was only an L-shaped space to walk in, the rest consumed by his full size bed that sat under the window and the desk that sat against the right wall. His closet had a sliding mirror door that was opposite of the end of the bed, and stacked neatly in front of half of it were his notes and binders from previous semesters. Armin climbed onto his bed, pulling open the blinds. Directly in front of their apartment building was the Water Burger across a two-lane street (Armin’s room was originally going to be Eren’s, but after Eren met Jean he had traded with Armin).

“Hello, Jean.” Armin mumbled, flopping backwards onto his bed. He covered his eyes with the back of his hand, remembering the soft smile Jean had given him, and a satisfied sigh leaves his lips. Just because he wasn’t out didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy dreaming that Jean had smiled at him like that because he liked him. He didn’t need to date, or do more than study and hangout with his friends. The multi-weekly Water Burger trips were enough, Armin thought, twisting his mouth from side to side. 

He didn’t need a boyfriend. 

He didn’t need Jean. 

He didn’t need to be out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really just an establishing chapter for the story. I know it's really slow right now but it'll speed up!! Pinky promise!


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever lalala  
> Sorry y'all I've had writer's block and have been addicted to Stardew Valley!!  
> Please enjoy and thank you for reading <3 <3 <3

The lights are off in the lab when Armin arrives late on a Tuesday night.

His professor had given him the keys to the lab the year prior, and while he disagreed with it being against the university’s rules the Geology department was small, and enough classes had passed where his professors arrived late and flustered. So he accepted the key.

When he flicked on the lights, the first thing he noticed was the tuft of brown hair attached to one of his professor’s sleeping body, her head down and in her arms on the teacher’s desk. There was no one else except for her, the taller lab tables with stools stacked on them and the window opened from when the sun was probably still out. Armin shakes his head although he half expected the sight, moving over to gently shake his professor’s shoulder. “Hange, wake up.”

Her head jolts up in an instance, wide eyes turning to him, and he jumps back slightly. He smiles from her reaction as he goes to close the window. “Ah! Armin!” She yells, her chair scraping the floor behind him as she stands. “You scared me! I must have fallen asleep -I’ve been so tired lately, there’s so much work to do!”

“You should take care of yourself more.” Armin replies, reaching the far side of the room to pull the window shut, eliciting a high-pitched shrill in the process. He cringes at the noise.

“Says the student here at -” A pause, and he turns around to see her picking up her phone, her expression dropping into exasperation as soon as she looks at the screen. “It’s dead!”

“9 PM.” Armin supplies, smiling tiredly at her reaction. He had known her since he had started classes at university, and while she could be boisterous and frazzled, they shared a love for science and geology that formed the base of their friendship. One and a half years prior he had attended her wedding with one of the other professor’s in his department, Professor Moblit Berner, at which she had told Armin to just call her Hange from then on. 

“So late! What are you doing here?” Armin pulled a stool down just in front of the professor’s desk, setting his stuff on the table. He shrugged, sliding onto the stool and facing her, eying the scribbled remnants of a lecture on the board behind her.

“I just thought I could get some work done here.” Which was code for:  _ Eren and Connie were too loud and going to Whataburger to see one fry cook two days in a row seemed like too much.  _ Armin sighed, pulling out some of his homework. “Are you going home now?”

“No, I don’t have to.” She shook her head, grinning at him and lining up a stack of papers. “Need help with anything?”

“Do you speak Mandarin?” He asks, showing off a page of his Chinese homework. With his major came a requirement to take two semesters of a language course, and from the first semester he took Chinese he knew he would be taking it until he graduated. It was fun and hard work, and Armin had grown up with his parents instilling in him how hard work was the most rewarding thing. He couldn’t deny how it boosted his self-image knowing he succeeded. So he kept at it.

“I speak science.” Hange replies, yawning and sitting back down. “Is your homework over how to talk about amphibolite,  _ or _ lithospheric plates,  _ or _ maybe fault gauge in Chinese? Because I can help with definitions or explanations.”

“Thank you, but no.” Armin smiled, turning to look at his homework, pulling out a pencil from the front pocket of his backpack. “It’s about…” His eyes fell on the page, seeing ‘Dating part 1’ at the top. A heat creeped up his neck. “...dating.”

“Dating?” Hange laughed, although she quickly coughed and cleared her throat, the action a clear attempt to be polite and not a show of her amusement at his bleak dating life. Her reaction didn’t bother Armin, though, but he held back a groan at the subject. He had come here to avoid thinking of Jean. His fingers drummed at the paper, following the lines of the characters in his mind but not processing any of it. “Armin?”

Armin hadn’t come close to dating since elementary school.

He had held hands with a small, somber blonde girl named Annie in 4th grade after she had taken a liking to him. They spent recesses holding hands, traded their lunches with one another, and waited for their parents to pick them up together in the school cafeteria after school. It ended when she moved the summer after, and since then it was only a rare occasion that he held Eren’s hand or more often Mikasa’s. And no kisses ever occurred.

He wasn’t uninterested, though, and he knew that when he arrived at Whataburger without Eren the next day. But just because he wasn’t going to make a move didn’t mean he couldn’t try to be friends with him. To his disappointment, though, Jean wasn’t working, but he figured it was for the best when he got into re-attempting the Chinese homework he had (having spent the night instead discussing upcoming geology chapters with Hange), finding the grammar confusing and but the characters just familiar enough to not make him feel at a total loss.

He was writing a character with his finger on his leg as a way to remember it when the door to Water Burger opened. He didn’t give it much thought, trying to focus on drilling the digit into his head, when a black Water Burger cap dropped onto his table. Jumping, Armin looked up to find Jean looking down at him.

“Where’s your dumb friend?” Jean asked, a blank expression on his face. 

Armin was shocked, the words coming out of his mouth quick and carelessly. “Oh, not here. I’m studying so I didn’t ask if he wanted to come along….”

Jean snickers, looking way more lively than he usually does, and slides into the seat across from him. It takes all of Armin’s willpower to not visibly react. He was clearly in a good mood, drumming his fingers on the table before speaking. A fat smirk sat on his face. “I’m early for my shift.”

Armin nods, watching as Jean places his elbows on the table, leaning forward and scanning over Armin’s textbook. The gears in Armin’s head slowly started to come to life again, the shock of the situation wearing off although the novelty stayed put. Jean had never done this -or maybe he just never had the opportunity to, really. Eren was always there when Jean was working.

“Chinese?” He asks questioningly, looking up to meet Armin’s gaze with a raised brow. Armin nods.

“Yeah, I’ve been taking it for a few years now.” 

“Oh, wow.” Jean looks genuinely impressed for a moment, and Armin feels a tiny ball of pride in his chest at the reaction. He glanced down, eyeing over the glossy characters and relishing in the compliment, a small smile on his face. After a moment of silence Jean spoke. “So why haven’t I found you on any dating apps yet?”

“Hm?” Armin looks up, spaced out.

“Dating apps, I haven’t found you yet.” Jean stared at him, the smirk relaxing. “Do you not use them? I’ve never seen you with a boyfriend here so I thought you might be single.”

Armin stills, processing what Jean had said. He takes a moment to overthink it, because in his beginnings of panic he recognized that Jean asking had revealed two things to Armin (and had also drastically increased his anxiety and blood pressure in the process). 

One, Jean’s some form of homosexual. 

And two, Jean knows Armin is as well.

Armin doesn’t reply, staring blankly at Jean. Jean’s mouth drops in an awkward ‘o’ before snapping out of what Armin believes is him realizing Armin’s in the closet, but he guffaws, actually fucking laughs at him. “You’re not gay?”

_ Oh. _

Armin glares at him, because  _ what an asshole _ .

Jean quickly straightens up though, leaning back comfortably, smug. “No, no, you’re definitely gay.”

“Stop saying that!” Armin hisses, glancing around them. Luckily no one he knows is around, or even paying attention to them. He watches a kid purposefully drop a fry onto the floor before looking back at Jean. “Why are you so sure?”

“It’s obvious, Armin.” Jean gestures at him with one hand and Armin feels it like a slap.  _ Obvious?  _ “Some guys are just like that. Girls, too.”

“...it’s obvious?” Jean nods slowly, as if he can’t believe Armin is questioning him, and Armin can’t believe what he’s realizing. He was obvious? “But...Eren -he never said anything. And Mikasa...”

“You’re not out...?” It’s the first time Jean sounds like he gives a shit, and it makes Armin want to lean over and hit him with his own work hat. But instead Armin sighs, aggravated, and crosses his arms.

“No!”

Jean laughs again, although it comes out a bit strangled, his brows furrowed together. “Eren is really thickheaded, huh?”

Armin nods, uncomfortable and embarrassed and not exactly wanting to touch on his friend’s lack of acknowledgement of his sexuality or maybe just their denseness when it comes to him. Or maybe their lack of acknowledgement of him? The thought makes a lump form in his throat.

There’s a strained silence, and Armin takes a brief glance at him, noting the perplexed glare the other’s shooting out the window, before continuing his homework and pushing down the lump. Jean gets up a few long minutes later with the pair simply nodding to signify him going to work.

It’s later when he’s chewing on the end of his pen, lost in thought, that Jean comes to his table with a tall Water Burger drink. He puts his hand up before Armin can speak. “I’m sorry.” He looks the most serious Armin has ever seen him when he says this, the smugness gone and the sharpness in his eyes softened. He doesn’t give Armin a chance to reply, going off to start sweeping the floors, and Armin switches his attention back to the overly-large drink in front of him. When Armin takes a sip it’s a strawberry shake, his favorite.

It’s in his hand when he arrives at home later that night. He had caught Jean’s eyes as he left, smiling at him and receiving a sore smile back, and he thinks of it briefly as he shuffles off his shoes in the dark living room. There’s a soft hum of music coming from Mikasa’s room, and as he steps farther into the apartment the strip of light under her door becomes visible. He pauses, wondering if he should go talk to her.  _ Does she know? _

As he’s mulling it over the door opens, though, and Armin raises his eyes to meet Eren’s as he steps out and cracks her door. They stare at each other, Eren looking slightly too flustered for what’s happening to be normal even in the dim lighting. Armin opens his mouth to ask what’s going on but Eren interjects, pointing at the shake in his hand.

“Water Burger?”

“Yeah, It was free.” Armin explains, and Eren just nods, no quip about Jean leaving his mouth or question as to why it was free. Armin swallows dryly and speaks. “Do you know?”

“Know what?” Eren asks, stepping away from Mikasa’s door and towards his own. Armin watches him, hesitating.  _ Do I wanna do this? _

Eren looks at him, curious.

_ No, I do not want to do this. _

“What this song is -” Tumbles out of Armin’s mouth, and he gestures towards Mikasa’s room. He can barely hear the song over the pumping of blood in his ears. “Do you know?”

“No, but I’m sure Mikasa does, you should go ask her.”

“Okay, thanks.” 

“Goodnight, Armin.” Eren nods at him, quickly disappearing into his room. Armin remains standing there, though, trying to calm down from his lame attempt at bringing it up. If they hadn’t noticed, which Armin was starting to suspect they hadn’t, he couldn’t imagine how they would then react if he did come out. He took a sip of his shake and tried to not think about it.


End file.
